Aguirre pledge turns negative to positive

Mike Aguirre’s pledge today to not accept donations over $250 — and his rejected challenge to other mayoral candidates to do the same — may or may not make an impression on voters, political experts said.

Aguirre’s pledge has brought some attention to the former city attorney’s campaign, if only for a brief time, said Thad Kousser, a political-science professor at the University of California San Diego.

And this matters in a campaign where Aguirre has largely been overshadowed by City Councilmen David Alvarez and Kevin Faulconer and former State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher in the Nov. 19 special San Diego mayoral election.

“The pros of it are that it can help call attention to himself in a race where the former city attorney is trying to remake his reputation and get some of the focus on his campaign,” Kousser said.

The stance also takes something that could be a potential negative and turns it into a positive, Kousser said.

“He probably doesn’t have wealthy financial backers, so he has turned what could have been a lack of fundraising ability into a declaration of independence from rich donors,” Kousser said.

To some residents, such as Steven Cairncross, a La Jolla real estate agent who donated $1,000 to Faulconer’s campaign, the issues and the candidate are more important than self-imposed fundraising limits.

“To me, it doesn’t even really matter,” Cairncross said. “Even if he is not accepting large donations, he’s a long way from resurrecting himself in my world. He was a nightmare as city attorney.”

Aguirre’s campaign says his record as city attorney was solid, and turning his attention to minimizing special interests makes sense.

“If you look back at Mike’s record at city attorney, he was on the right side of a lot of issues,” Aguirre campaign spokesman Charles Langley said. “And I believe that people are tired of seeing their voices marginalized by big-money politics.”

Aguirre questioned the motives of big-money donors to other candidates at his news conference on Friday.

“Will they work to lower our electricity bills or do they see their campaign donation as a bill that must be repaid?” he said Friday. “This is not how a democracy is supposed to work. We need to return the City of San Diego to the people of San Diego.”

Aguirre is not the first political candidate to employ the strategy. Former U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wisconsin, endeared himself to his home state voters when he pledged in 1992 to rely on the state’s voters for most of his contributions and in 1998 when he vowed to only raise $3.8 million — one dollar for every Wisconsin resident.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 recall election took what some believed might be a mark against him — his personal wealth — and declared that it would keep him free from special interests.

But the lasting effect such strategies have on a race is decidedly mixed, largely because campaign finance reform is often not the most important issue in the campaigns, Kousser said.

“it’s never a top-tier issue with voters,” Kousser said. “There is no proof that it really buys you a lot with voters, but if it gets you a piece of positive press, it probably is worth doing.”

Carl Luna, a political-science professor at San Diego Mesa College, said generally, candidates with the most money win elections.

“Locally, Steve Francis tried to self finance his campaign without taking donations,” Luna said, referring to the 2008 mayoral runner-up. “That meant on Election Day he was guaranteed 2 votes – his and his wife. He lost.

“At the end of the day (or campaign) though, that missing money could hurt,” Luna said.